Inverting sediment bedforms for evaluating the hazard of dilute pyroclastic density currents in the field.

Pyroclastic density currents are ground hugging gas-particle flows associated to explosive volcanic eruptions and moving down a volcano's slope, causing devastation and deaths. Because of the hostile nature they cannot be analyzed directly and most of their fluid dynamic behavior is reconstructed by the deposits left in the geological record, which frequently show peculiar structures such as ripples and dune bedforms. Here, a set of equations is simplified to link flow behavior to particle motion and deposition. This allows to construct a phase diagram by which impact parameters of dilute pyroclastic density currents, representing important factors of hazard, can be calculated by inverting bedforms wavelength and grain size, without the need of more complex models that require extensive work in the laboratory.

The impact of pyroclastic density currents duration on humans: the case of the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius.

Pyroclastic density currents are ground hugging gas-particle flows that originate from the collapse of an eruption column or lava dome. They move away from the volcano at high speed, causing devastation. The impact is generally associated with flow dynamic pressure and temperature. Little emphasis has yet been given to flow duration, although it is emerging that the survival of people engulfed in a current strongly depends on the exposure time. The AD 79 event of Somma-Vesuvius is used here to demonstrate the impact of pyroclastic density currents on humans during an historical eruption. At Herculaneum, at the foot of the volcano, the temperature and strength of the flow were so high that survival was impossible. At Pompeii, in the distal area, we use a new model indicating that the current had low strength and low temperature, which is confirmed by the absence of signs of trauma on corpses. Under such conditions, survival should have been possible if the current lasted a few minutes or less. Instead, our calculations demonstrate a flow duration of 17 min, long enough to make lethal the breathing of ash suspended in the current. We conclude that in distal areas where the mechanical and thermal effects of a pyroclastic density currents are diminished, flow duration is the key for survival.